Could the Financial Crisis Push Global Governance Reform?
On October 22, the White House announced that President Bush invited the heads of state of the Group of 20 (G20) to join him for a summit on November 15 to discuss the current global financial and economic crisis. The G20 includes 10 major emerging economies of the world—including Brazil, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa among others—along with the members of the G8, Australia and the European Union. This could represent a major step toward a new architecture in global financial and economic relations as a first step in global governance reform more broadly. This will be the first ever meeting of G20 countries at head of state level and gives the next president of the United States an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to the G20 as a better global steering committee than the G7/8.
